Buddhists pick up the pieces after temples, homes torched over Facebook photo

A Bangladeshi Buddhist woman cries at a Buddhist temple which was torched in Ramu in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Oct. 1. Hundreds of Buddhists fled their southern Bangladesh villages in the wake of attacks by Muslims who burned at least 10 Buddhist temples and 40 homes in anger over a Facebook photo of a burned Quran. The Buddhists started returning home Monday amid heightened security and more than 160 arrests.

A.M.Ahad / AP

Pages of burned religious books remain at a Buddhist temple on Oct. 1 which was torched in an overnight weekend attack in Ramu in the coastal district of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.

Reuters reports-- Bangladesh accused Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar on Monday of involvement in attacks on Buddhist temples and homes in the southeast and said the violence was triggered by a photo posted on Facebook that insulted Islam.

Thousands of Muslims went on a rampage in Buddhist areas of Bangladesh near the border on Saturday, setting ablaze more than a dozen temples and monasteries and at least 50 homes. Property was looted, including statues of the Buddha.

"The attacks on temples and houses in Buddhist localities in Ramu and neighboring areas in Cox's Bazar (district) were perpetrated by radical Islamists," Home Minister Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters in Dhaka. Continue reading.

After heightened security and 160 arrests, some of the Buddhists began returning home on Monday, according to the Associated Press.

A.M.Ahad / AP

A Bangladeshi Buddhist Monk reacts as he looks at a burned book shelf at a Buddhist temple on Oct. 1.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

A woman sits in front of her burned home on Oct. 1 after Muslims attacked and set fire to Buddhist households in Cox's Bazar.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

Shoshi Barua, 56, a Buddhist woman lies under a mosquito net in her temporary shelter on Oct. 1 after Muslims set fire to her home in Cox's Bazar.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

A Buddhist woman walks through the gate of a temple as a policeman stands guard on Oct. 1 after a weekend attack on the temple by Muslims, in Cox's Bazar.